Package having a slit folding line forming a pouring edge



Nov- 21, 1967 JAN ERlK ANDREASSON 3,353,733

PACKAGE HAVING A SLIT FOLDING LINE FORMING A POURING EDGE Filed Feb. 8, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan-Erik Andreasson MJ M&L| JX .1967 JAN-ERIK ANDREASSON 3,353,733

PACKAGE HAVING A SLIT FOLDING LINE FORMING A POURING EDGE Filed Feb. 8, 1966 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fi .3 8 2o 9 8 I 4 23 13 IIIIIIIII/I/I/IIIIIIIII/II/Il/IIIIII/I/I/I/I Jan-'Erik Andreq n,

United States Patent O r 3,353,738 PACKAGE HAVING A SLIT FOLDING LINE FORMING A POURING EDGE Jan-Erik Andreasson, Lund, Sweden, assignor to AB Tetra Pak, Lund, Sweden, a Swedish company Filed Feb. 8, 1966, Ser. No. 525,999 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Feb. 10, 1965, 1,775/ 65 Claims. (Cl. 229--7) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A parallelepipedic package having stiff outer walls and designed to have a pouring opening in its top wall adjacent to but spaced from the folding line between said top wall and an adjacent side wall, a cut extending along said folding line adjacent to said opening and two additional cuts in said top wall each extending diagonally relative to said folding line from said cut in said folding line on each side of said opening thereby forming a narrowing lip shaped part extending from adjacent said opening to the sharp edge formed by the cut in said folding line.

The present invention refers to packages of the type having a relatively stiff outer wall and an inner wall of a material impermeable to filling liquid. The object of the invention is to provide a pouring edge for the filling material on packages of the abovementioned kin-d which have an opening or an opening indication and a folding line located adjacent said opening or opening indication formed in the manufacture of the packages, said folding line bordering two adjacent sides of the package.

As is well-known, most liquids tend to wet solid surfaces. This physical fact constitutes a troublesome problem when a liquid has to be poured out of a vessel or a container. Owing to said wetting tendency the poured-out liquid tends to follow the outer wall of the container. Various methods of breaking this tendency are wellknown. The most original of these methods is to provide the container with some form of spout or similar liquid guiding means.

In the packaging art the problem has aroused attention and various measures have been taken to prevent pouredout liquid from finding its way down along the outer wall of the package, the package having been provided with some from of pouring opening formed in the manufacture of the package or in the employment thereof.

A requirement to be satisfied by a package is that of being cheap in manufacture. As every kind of auxiliary means, such as for example pouring means, increase the cost of the package, these means must be considered undesirable from a commercial point of view.

Furthermore, a requirement to be satisfied by the package is that of being simple to use. To have to take special steps before pouring out the filling material so as to prevent the filling liquid from flowing down the sides must be considered to be an appreciable disadvantage of prior packages.

For the purpose of eliminating these disadvantages simply but efliciently the present invention provides a package having a relatively stiff outer wall and an inner wall of a material impervious to a filling liquid and having an opening or an opening indication and a folding line located adjacent said opening or opening indication formed in the manufacture of the package, said folding line lying between two adjacent sides of the package, characterized by the fact that at said folding line the stiff outer wall is at least partially cut for the purpose of forming a sharp pouring edge for the liquid filling material contained in the package.

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Further features of the invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. .1 is a perspective view of the package,

FIG. 2 shows the package as seen from the top,

FIG. 3 is a cross-section on the line II of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 illustrates how the filling material is poured out by employing the pouring edge according to the invention.

A package 1 consists of a body, substantially of parallelepipedic form, three sides of which are visible in FIG. 1, viz a front wall 2, a side Wall 3 and a top wall 4. From FIG. 3 it will further be seen that the package walls comprise at least two layers. The outer one of these layers consists of a relatively stiff material 5, for example paper or cardboard, and the inner layer is of a thin thermoplastic material 6 which possesses the tightness characteristics necessary for the packaging of a liquid 7. The thermoplastic material, which is in the form of a bag inserted in the outer cardboard box formed of the stiff material, is sealed to the outer cardboard box at certain spots or regions only, preferably at the region around the opening 8.

The pouring-out opening 8 provide-d in the top wall 4 of the package extends through both the outer stiff material 5 and the inner plastic material 6. Naturally the aperture '8 is closed in one way or another during the shipping and storing of the package. For example, it may be that a covering wafer is provided over the pouring-out opening. The covering wafer may then also protect the pouring edge which is valuable from a hygienic point of view. However, since the problems of sealing or of protecting a pouring-out opening cannot be considered to be of essential importance for understanding the invention, which is directed to a pouring device, the package has been shown in the state when the opening is already open.

The side walls 2, 3 and 4 shown in FIG. 1 are mutually defined by the folding lines 9, 10 and 11. The last one 11 of these forms the boundary line between the top wall 4 and the front wall 2. The filling material is intended to be run across this boundary line when pouring it out through the aperture 8. However, said folding line 11, like the remaining folding lines, shows a certain radius of curvature which results from the method of manufacture and which cannot be avoided without taking special steps. Owing to this radius, in FIG. 3 designated by the double line 12, the poured-out liquid will tend to find its way down the wall 2, unless special steps to prevent it are taken.

For the purpose of eliminating the radius 12 within a certain region of the line 11, in connection with the manufacture of the package there has been provided a cut 13 in said line breaking through the outer relatively stiff material 5. From the points 14 and 15 cuts 16 and 17, respectively, extend some distance in across the top 4 of the package. These cuts, which like the cuts 13' break through the outer package wall, form obtuse angles with the cut 13 at the points 14 and 15.

Owing to the resiliency of the material 5 the lip-shaped part 20 which is bounded in part by the cuts 16, 13 and 7 will spring upwards, which is seen from FIG. 6. Thus the radius 12 is avoided, whereby a sharp pouring edge 18 is produced.

However, it has been found that at a particular moment in the manufacture of the package when the lip-shaped part 20, towards the interior of the package, is folded in, the edge 18 easily getting caught inside the front wall 2, which of course is undesirable. This tendency may be offset by allowing the cut 13 to continue to the cuts 21 and 22 a slight distance beyond each of the limit points 3 14 and 15 which extend some distance into the top of the package. Thereby two additional narrow tongues 23 and 24 are created which take up the tensions which would otherwise cause said undesirable effect.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the sharp pouring edge 13 is utilized at the pouring-out of the filling material. To ensure that the filling material will actually flow towards the pouring edge 18 and not deviate laterally, the cuts have been formed so as to open outwards in an oblique direction, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. Further, in order to secure the desired direction of flow the top wall 4 may be provided with stampings 19 directed obliquely towards an axis of symmetry through the pouring-out opening. The stampings may either consist of ridges or of depressions in the material.

'I claim:

1. A package having at least two adjacent plane outer walls formed of relatively stiff material at substantially right angles to each other, a folding line between the adjacent edges of said two plane walls, means defining a pouring opening in one of said plane walls adjacent to but spaced a substantial distance from said folding line and a cut extending a substantial distance along said folding line adjacent to said means providing a pouring opening, said out being adapted to provide a sharp edge at said folding line over which liquid may flow from said opening.

2. A package as defined in claim 1 comprising a pair of cuts extending inwardly in said one plane wall from adjacent the ends of said cut in said folding line on each side of said opening, said cuts together being adapted to form a lip-shaped part having a sharp edge extending from adjacent said opening to said folding line.

3. A package as defined in claim 2 in which said pair of cuts diverge from each other away from said folding line.

4. A package as defined in claim 3 comprising a second pair of cuts extending inwardly in said one plane wall from each end of said cut in said folding line.

5. A package as defined in claim 2 comprising stampings in said one wall adjacent to said opening for guiding liquid flowing from said opening to said lip-shaped part.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,323,505 7/1943 Wilcox 2297 2,738,090 3/1956 Davis 2297 X 2,970,737 2/1961 Rice 2297 2,983,422 5/1961 Miller 22917 3,217,951 11/1965 Paal 2297 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Examiner. 

1. A PACKAGE HAVING AT LEAST TWO ADJACENT PLANE OUTER WALLS FORMED OF RELATIVELY STIFF MATERIAL AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES TO EACH OTHER, A FOLDING LINE BETWEEN THE ADJACENT EDGES OF SAID TWO PLANE WALLS, MEANS DEFINING A POURING OPENING IN ONE OF SAID PLANE WALLS ADJACENT TO BUT SPACED A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE FROM SAID FOLDING LINE AND A CUT EXTENDING A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE ALONG SAID FOLDING LINE ADJACENT TO SAID MEANS PROVIDING A POURING OPENING, SAID CUT BEING ADAPTED TO PROVID A SHARP EDGE AT SAID FOLDING LINE OVER WHICH LIQUID MAY FLOW FROM SAID OPENING. 